District Administration articles from April 2003

District Administration archives from April 2003

Nothing important. (Editor's Letter).(Caring School Community program )(Editorial)
April 1, 2003... What would you say if I told you there was a way to improve your district's test scores, attendance, discipline issues and more in one fell swoop? You'd be interested, but a little leery, too. Now, if I said that the way to reach these goals...

Message: live free or go broke. (Inside the law: analyzing, debating and explaining no child left behind).(effects of No Child Left Behind Act mandates on New Hampshire)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Will people from the "Live Free or Die" state tell the federal government to keep its NCLB regulations? More than half of New Hampshire's school districts oppose yet another unfunded mandate from the feds. The state's residents were...

No child brings every lawyer out. (Inside the law: analyzing, debating and explaining no child left behind).(No Child Left Behind Act cases )(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... A flurry of potential lawsuits in New York, California, Illinois, Louisiana and Washington, D. C., could hit the fan--in the name of No Child Left Behind. New York City lawyer Charlie King has already filed a suit--possibly one of the first of...

Dealing with your own failures. (Putnam County (Fla.) School District).(failing schools one result of mandated standards)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Perhaps the worst part of the No Child Left Behind bill, for administrators at least, is the government's ability to tab schools as failing. Because the law says each subgroup of students has to show annual progress toward state-defined goals,...

English-only coming to Arizona. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).(Arizona's Proposition 203 requires English language instruction)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Three years after Arizona voters endorsed teaching students in English, state schools Superintendent Tom Horne is trying to better enforce the English-only mandate known as Proposition 203. Starting next year, students learning English...

The case for student reps. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).(student school board trustees)
April 1, 2003... At 18, Ashley Nathanson is the youngest Anne Arundel (Md.) County Public Schools board member--and one of a growing number of student representatives nationwide. To her surprise, she felt respected from the start of her term in July 2002. ...

Florida needs 20,000 teachers. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).(class size amendment laws force change)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Florida needs at least 20,000 more teachers this summer to meet a smaller class size amendment and to compensate for more students and teacher retirements and transfers. Education officials estimate that 5,000 to 7,000 new teachers will...

Critics: prez' budget leaves children behind. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).(Bush education spending not enough )
April 1, 2003... The good news is that President Bush is proposing $53.1 billion in federal taxes for public education next year, up from $40.1 billion in fiscal year 2001. The bad news is that it's not enough, especially in light of a new law, critics say. ...

Online safety tool kit. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).(Promoting Online Safety: The Home-School Partnership)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... A new tool kit can guide school officials to talk to parents about protecting children when they go online. The Consortium for School Networking has released, Promoting Online Safety: The Home-School Partnership. CoSN, a national nonprofit...

Like terror Deja vu. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).(schools designing terrorism attack plans)
April 1, 2003... When it comes to safety, everything old is new again. In the 1950s and '60s it was "duck-and-cover," today it's "shelter-in-place." In an effort to protect students in the event of a terrorist or chemical attack, the shelter-in-place plan is...

Terrorism insurance for sale. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).(some schools buying terrorist attack coverage )(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... And districts are buying it. Under a federal law passed late last year, insurance companies are required to offer their policy holders coverage for terrorist attacks. New York City Public Schools, the nation's largest district, and Chicago...

L.A. schools improve, but long way to go. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).(Los Angeles Unified School Districts' schools improve standardized test scores)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Elementary students in more than half of Los Angeles Unified School Districts' schools improved their state achievement scores last year, more than other elementary schools in the region, according to published reports. But the students...

Dialing for dollars. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).(innovative funding from school districts)
April 1, 2003... Singing the budget blues? Well, Hilldale, Okla., Superintendent D.B. Merrill isn't letting the cash crisis get him down. He took to the stage and danced. And students in Longmont Colo., are taking their shovels and pails and collecting compost...

Teacher quality online. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).(Teacher Quality Index ranks schools and teacher experience)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Curious about how a teacher measures up, or if he or she is credentialed? Go online. Despite California Gov. Gray Davis vetoing an online rating system for schools based on how many qualified teachers they employ, a university professor...

CEO superintendents gaining clout. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).(groups such as Broad Center for Superintendents leading trends)
April 1, 2003... H-O-T. That's a fair description of the trend in trading superintendents for corporate-style CEOs. From San Diego to New York, non-traditional superintendents are being handed the helm with the idea that leading an education organization takes...

Non-traditional administrators. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).(school administrators coming from non-education jobs)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Alan D. Bersin Now: Superintendent, San Diego City Schools Then: United States Attorney for the Southern District of California [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] John Dilworth Now: COO, Caddo Parish (La.) Public School District ...

Principals get their own CEO-style class. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).(leadership academy for school principals)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Superintendents aren't the only ones targeted for CEO-style leadership training and instruction. In New York City, Chancellor Joel Klein recently announced his creation of a leadership academy for principals, with Jack Welch, the executive who...

Internet town hall meeting links Iraqi, U.S. classrooms. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).
April 1, 2003... With a U.S. invasion of Iraq looming, two classrooms half a world away joined together last month to discuss the issues surrounding the countries' disputes. The Global Nomads Group presented a rare exchange between an Iraqi and a U.S....

Report card for parents? (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).(parents could be graded on involvement in education)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Parents in Lebanon, Penn., could be getting their own report cards this fall. School Superintendent Marianne Bartley is proposing that parents be graded on how involved they are in their children's education. Under her proposal, parents would...

Parents nail truants. (Update: education news from schools, businesses, research and government agencies).(Philadelphia hires parent-truant officers to patrol streets)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Parents are on the streets and in the malls and subway stations in Philadelphia. They're on the lookout for truants and putting them back in class. In an effort to crackdown on truancy, the schools' chief executive, Paul Vallas, started...

Leader by surprise: if a teacher can drive a bus, then a superintendent can work the lunch room. This leader has done both. (Administrator profile: R. Paul Garrison, Daleville Community Schools).
April 1, 2003... Paul Garrison may be the superintendent of Daleville Community Schools, but he still pulled lunch duty last year. He says he didn't mind. When you work in a district with only two schools and about 670 students, you must tolerate an...

Tech masters: veteran teachers are as technology-wise in this district as new teachers, and even students. An ongoing staff development program is why. (District profile: Golf School District 67 in Morton Grove, Ill.).
April 1, 2003... Administrators at Golf District 67 compare themselves to The Little Engine That Could, but the comparison doesn't quite work. Yes, the public school district is small and spirited, but the little blue engine in the book never considered...

The single-sex solution: is there a way that separate can be even better than equal? A handful of schools nationwide are trying to prove the point that single gender education can do a better job educating both girls and boys. .(Cover Story)
April 1, 2003... Just before eight in the morning at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School in Seattle, some boys play a last-minute game of soccer on one side of the elongated playground. Girls jump rope in another section, and the two groups share the slides and...

!Hola, Espanol! Are foreign language program offerings indicative of our nation as a melting pot--or is a Spanish Inquisition in order?
April 1, 2003... "I'm a French teacher being forced to teach Spanish! The only good thing about teaching Spanish is Ricky Martin!" says Danielle Edwards, who has been with Edwards-Knox Central School District in upstate New York for 16 years. She's only half...

Are desktops dead? Technology--and how it is used--is changing quickly. But 85 percent of the computers schools expect to purchase this year are still desktops. Is this a sign that districts remain out of touch, or an understanding of exactly how districts are using computers?(Why schools can't be used as computer disposal sites)
April 1, 2003... Mary Cullinane, who manages the K-12 computing segment at Microsoft, has a somewhat absurd analogy regarding the use of computer labs in K-12 education. "Imagine saying to your students, 'Okay, class, now we're all going to get up and go...

Problem solved: in four years, one Boston school nearly doubled its passing rate in math. Find out how they did it.
April 1, 2003... A 3-year-old sat on the lap of his mother, who was visiting Richard Murphy Elementary School in Boston. Principal Mary Russo couldn't help watching the child, fascinated with how the boy kept peering to the ceiling. "We have block...

With this ring: Webrings can bring customized information to districts quickly and efficiently. (The Online Edge).
April 1, 2003... One of the greatest implementation challenges for administrators is equipping staff and students with online resources that support countless educational topics. For example, I have recently been asked to recommend Web sites for math word...

Knot in my class! Alarmists would like you to believe that crayons and mud pies are developmentally appropriate. KidPix is not. (Speaking Out).
April 1, 2003... A new scourge is sweeping the land. Kids have grown isolated from family members and no longer play outside. Chores go undone. Homework waits. Books go unread. Teachers note distracted students. My ninth-grade daughter's friends are all hooked...

Comics in the classroom. (Curriculum update: the latest developments in math, science, language arts and social studies).(language arts skills program using comics)
April 1, 2003... What is it about comic books that draws kids to them? There's the story--they can't wait to find out what happens next. And the action-packed illustrations help. But there's also a "clandestine nature that reading comic books is something that...

The state of science and math teachers. (Curriculum update: the latest developments in math, science, language arts and social studies).(summarizes 2000 national survey of science and mathematics education)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... From content preparation and equipment needs to professional development participation and textbook satisfaction, the latest series of detailed reports from the 2000 National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education covers it all. Eight new...

Border crossing: science literacy. (Curriculum update: the latest developments in math, science, language arts and social studies).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... What is the role of language in learning and reporting science? That's the question on the minds of scholars who recently convened to establish a university research network. "We're really trying to do some border crossing between language .and...

Textbook report: "happy talk" on Islam. (Curriculum update: the latest developments in math, science, language arts and social studies).(textbooks present biased viewpoints)
April 1, 2003... The record of Muslim enslavement, the brutal subjection of women, violence among militant Islamists and jihad. Mentions of these darker sides of Islam's past and present are few and far between in world history textbooks, according to a new...

New wave of wireless. (Research corner: essentials on education data and analysis from research authority AEL).
April 1, 2003... Wireless technologies have quickly moved from pilot programs to the mainstream in K-12 education. While overall education spending is likely to be flat this year, projections indicate that school districts will significantly up their spending...

Bringing the classroom home. (New Products).
April 1, 2003... Many teachers have the chance to log into their districts from home. But accessing server files isn't always a simple process. "Because of the nature of security, there are more hoops to jump through than [when teachers] are at a flat Web...

Casio: ClassPad 300. (New Products).
April 1, 2003... www.casio.com, Hardware, $249.95 This calculator features a collection of applications, such as 3D Graph, Geometry and eActivity, to support students' self-study. The cross-curricular tool has a 160 x 240-dot LCCD touch screen with...

ABC-CLIO: alternative schools: a reference handbook. (New Products).
April 1, 2003... www.abc-clio.com, Book, $45 This handbook provides educators with the history, purpose and impact of alternative education in the U.S., ranging from Ben Franklin's academy (which broke the Latin curriculum standard) to recent court...

Luxeon: L713V. (New Products).
April 1, 2003... www.luxeonusa.com, Hardware, $2,995 This SVGA multimedia projector uses LCD technology and features a 1300 lumens, native SVGA resolution (800 x 600) and XGA (1024 x 768) compressed. It includes a wireless remote control, a laser pointer,...

Blue squirrel: spam sleuth. (New Products).
April 1, 2003... www.bluesquirrel.com, Software, $23.96/single user, $119.95/5 user site license to $499.95/50 user site license Schools can block unwanted junk e-mail with this anti-spam software. The software analyzes e-mail messages for spam and virus...

Learning in motion: knowledge forum 4.0. (New Products).
April 1, 2003... www.learn.motion.com, Software, Classroom subscription $350/year, Site license $4,990/year (for districts using their own server; other pricing options available) The latest version of this browser-based K-12 software allows students and...

Digi-block: professional development workshops. (New Products).
April 1, 2003... www.digi-block.com, Workshops, $250 and up/teacher (plus materials cost) These classroom instruction workshops for K-8 math teachers are tailored to meet individual district requirements as well as state and national standards. Topics...

Scholastic: Teaching Reading in Social Studies, Science and Math. (New Products).
April 1, 2003... www.scholastic.com, Book, $27.95 Educator and author Laura Robb shows how to apply the three-part learning model of preparation, self-monitoring and application and absorption to content teaching in grades 3 and up. The 384-page book...

Vocational Research Institute: CareerScope Release 6. (New Products).
April 1, 2003... www.vri.org, Software. $500 and up per license The latest version of this career interest and aptitude assessment software features a five-minute multimedia introduction that gives students an understanding of the software's assessment...

Harvard Education Press: the 21st century principal current issues in leadership and policy. (New Products).
April 1, 2003... gseweb.harvard.edu/hepg, Book, $19.95 This book explores the major issues confronting today's public school principals, including changes in immigration, technology and social policy, as well as the effects that changing standards and...

H.W. Wilson: WilsonWeb. (New Products).
April 1, 2003... www.hwwilson.com, Internet, $250-$2,000, based on size of school (discounts available) The newest version of the WilsonWeb electronic reference database features WilsonLink, an SFX-powered software that provides access to full-text...

HP: 9g and 9s calculators. (New Products).
April 1, 2003... www.hp.com, Hardware, 9g $39.95, 9s $14.99 Designed for the education market, these calculators are the first products launched as part of HP's plans to develop a range of Reverse Polish Notation and algebraic calculators. The HP 9g...

SchoolMatch: SchoolMatch direct. (New Products).
April 1, 2003... www.schoolmatch.com, Internet, $50 set-up fee, plus $10-$25 per report card/month This new service gives teachers, administrators, parents and relocating families who visit a school or district Web site access to SchoolMatch Report Cards....

Minicom Advanced Systems: AristoClass 3.1. (New Products).
April 1, 2003... www.minicom.com, Software, $625-$1,500 per classroom (educational discounts available) This software lets teachers darken or disable students' screens during lectures and broadcast one screen to others. Students can discreetly request...

Canon: LV-5200 LCD projector. (New Products).
April 1, 2003... www.usa.canon.com, Hardware, $2,499 This portable LCD projector features 1.5X motorized zoom, complete connectivity and quiet operation. Its short-throw distance allows for 100-projections at 10.4 feet, providing large-screen imagery in...

Qwiz Inc.: Qwiz online 2.1. (New Products).
April 1, 2003... www.qwiz.com, Internet, $30 per test Districts can use this Web-based online assessment service to aid in their hiring processes. As an Application Service Provider, Qwiz stores scores and account data on its server. One new test, Qwiz...

Grolier online: ADA-compliant encyclopedias. (New Products).
April 1, 2003... www.go.grolier.com, Internet, $415/year for schools of 300 or fewer students Students with disabilities can use these versions of encyclopedia databases that are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act The ADA-compliant version...

Calendar of events.(Brief Article)(Calendar)
April 1, 2003... APRIL 2003 National School Boards Association 63rd Annual Conference NSBA www.nsba.org Keynote speakers: Walter Cronkite, Newt Gingrich and Ralph Nader April 5-8 San Francisco, Calif. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics...

By the numbers: a data bank on education trends for district leaders: this month: PDAS.(personal digital assistants)
April 1, 2003... 96.5% say handhelds are an effective instructional tool for educators 93% say handhelds have contributed positively to the quality of learning activities Source: SRI International, 2002 (www.sri.com) Important PDA Features In...